Systems and methods for remote access to a display-based bulletin board in a shared user environment

ABSTRACT

An electronic bulletin board for use in a shared always-on environment wherein a user may manipulate messages from a remote location. The electronic bulletin board may be implemented via database and programming logic on an application server accessible from any network node, including wireless devices. The always-on environment may be set up on a computer or broadband internet appliance or other communications device. Remote users may perform operations such as updating an existing message, posting a new message, download messages, and the like. The bulletin board also supports shared messages designed for special purposes, for example, an electronic grocery list that is accessible from remote locations.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to messaging systems, and moreparticularly to electronic messaging systems.

2. Background of the Invention

Today's work and home lifestyles can be very busy for many families. Inmany cases, individual family members may be involved in multipleactivities. Oftentimes, individual family members may have very littlepersonal interaction. In some such families, a bulletin board, chalkboard or other manual messaging systems may be used to provide somemeans of communication between members of the household. In somehouseholds, notes may be placed on the refrigerator or other commonlyused appliances. Message areas may include a place for leaving notes ofinterest to the entire household, such as reminders for group events orgrocery lists. In some households, the message area may be divided intovarious sub-areas allowing messages to be easily targeted to one or morehousehold members.

Such messaging systems are also commonly used in a variety of offices orother work spaces. For example, a bulletin board system may be used tolet others in the work place know of an individual's whereabouts. Abulletin board may also be used to post important messages for employeesattention.

A problem with the above-described messaging systems in that anindividual must be near the location of bulletin board to be able topost or read messages on the board. That is, conventional messagesystems do not provide a convenient method to manage notes posted in ashared environment from a remote location. For example, if a user isaway from home when he or she desires to post a message to the bulletinboard, that user would not be able to post the message until he or shereturns home. By this time, the intended recipient of the message mayhave already departed the home, thereby missing the communication fromthe user. In another example, a message cannot be removed from themessaging area unless the user is physically near the messaging system.Similarly, a user cannot post a new message or update an existingmessaging from a remote location.

Another problem with conventional messaging systems is that it isdifficult to determine whether or not one or more of the intendedrecipients have read the note. For example, in conventional bulletinboards, even if a reader of a note initials the note or otherwise marksit to show it has been read, other users of the bulletin board muststill physically review the board to receive the notification.

Conventional messaging systems also do not provide convenient means forcreating a transportable copy of any messages posted thereon. Currently,if a user wants to take a copy of a message away from the messagingsystem, the user must manually copy a note onto a separate piece ofpaper. Alternatively, if the note was posted using a paper that may beremoved from the board (e.g., pinned or taped to a bulletin board) theuser may physically remove note and take the message away from themessaging system. However, if a note is removed from the message boardthen others members of the household or workplace will not be able toread the note.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention uses a broadband-enabled internet connection toprovide an always-on interface to a virtual family, group, or officebulletin board system. Family members (or, e.g., associates orco-workers) may use this shared environment to communicate with oneanother either locally or remotely (e.g., using any email- or otherweb-capable device). The system allows users to print, reply tomessages, and hot link to embedded web uniform resource locators (URLs)from within a posted message.

The present invention also provides the capability to create, share andmodify “common notes” (e.g., a shopping list) that can be written to orretrieved by anyone, whether in a remote location or not. Accordingly,the present invention provides systems and methods enabling a user toupdate the bulletin board whenever a need arises. For example, if a useris on his way home from work when he decides to stop at a grocery store,he may retrieve a current version of the shopping list by sending anemail or other command to an application server. The application serverresponds to the request and sends a copy of the list to the user.Further, the user may send a request to update the bulletin board toreflect his intent to purchase the items from the list. In anotherexample, a user, for example, a child, may be informed at school of someitem he needs to bring to school. The child may send a message to updatethe shopping list with the additional item. In this manner, there isless chance of the child forgetting to inform the parents that an itemis needed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an exemplary user-interface thatmay be used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an exemplary electronic bulletinboard according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an architecture that may be usedto implement an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are exemplary tables that may be maintained in acustomer database in an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention comprises an “always-on”electronic bulletin board system that may be remotely manipulated byusers. Remote manipulation may include, for example, reading one or morenotes posted on the bulletin board, posting one or more notes to thebulletin board, deleting one or more notes from the bulletin board,acknowledging receipt of a note posted on the bulletin board, and thelike. FIG. 1 shows an exemplary display device, communications center100, that may be used to display an electronic bulletin board accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. Communications center 100 mayoptionally include a memory, a central processing unit and computerprogramming logic for controlling the device. FIG. 1 shows a display ofan exemplary graphical user interface for providing variouscommunications systems via communications center 100.

An electronic messaging system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention may be provided as an option, such as message center 102 oncommunications center 100. Message indicators, for example indicator104, may be used to provide a visual alert to one or more family membersthat a message has been posted for their attention. As shown in FIG. 1,message center 102 may include a separate area for each family member(or workplace user) and a collective “family” (or workplace) area. Inthis embodiment, a user in the household (or workplace) may access themessage center (e.g., by clicking on icon 106) to manipulate messages inthe communications center. As will be described in greater detailherein, remote users may also access the communication center tomanipulate messages.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary graphical user interface that may be displayedin embodiments of the present invention when a user clicks on icon 106.Alternatively, the interface shown in FIG. 2 may be displayed oncommunications center 100 when the device is idle. For example, thebulletin board may automatically be displayed in a manner similar tothat of a “screen saver” commonly used on personal computer systems. Aswould be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, other visualdisplay layouts may be used to convey the message information to users.For example, a text-based interface may be used in embodiments of thepresent invention. In another example, the messages may include audioand/or video clips providing multimedia communications via the bulletinboard system.

As shown in FIG. 2, in an exemplary embodiment, messages may be postedto the bulletin board and addressed to particular members of thehousehold (or workplace). For example, message 202 is addressed to“Billy” whereas message 204 is addressed to “Mom.” Similarly, messagesmay be address to “All” members of the household (or workplace) such asmessage 206, or may comprise a universal message, such as grocery list208.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 2 each message includes a menubar 210 providing options for manipulating the message. Options mayallow a user to reply to a message (“Reply”), print a message to aprinter device attached to communications center 100 or another printerdevice accessible on a network (“Print”), delete a message from thedisplay area (“Delete”), mark a message as read (“Mark”), mail a messageto some other system (“Mail”), edit a message (“Edit”) and read extendedmessages (“More”). Other options may be provided in alternativeembodiments of the present invention. Moreover, the menu of options neednot be provided individually on each message. That is, a single menu maybe used to manipulate selected messages. Alternatively, other userinterface options may be implemented to present the menu of options to auser (e.g., “right-clicking” on a message may result in a menu beingdisplayed).

An embodiment of the present invention also allows a user to postmessages including links to web pages. For example, message 212 from“Steve” to “Jane” includes a uniform resource locator (URL) that theauthor wants the recipient to review. When Jane reads message 212, shemay click on the link to view the web page.

An embodiment of the present invention may include additional optionbuttons such as, for example, buttons 214 and 216 providing otheroptions for the user. In this example, button 214 allows a user tocreate a new message to be posted on the bulletin board and button 216allows the user to return to a main screen, such as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows an architecture that may be used to implement an embodimentof the present invention. In this embodiment, the primary logic forproviding a service according to the present invention is provided byapplication server 300 and customer database 302. Application server 300may be any computer system, which would typically include a centralprocessing unit, a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory. Customerdatabase 302 may be part of application server 300 or may be on adifferent computer system. In this embodiment, customer database 302includes records mapping a user's email address to the user's bulletinboard address. The database may also include an IP address associatedwith particular users and may include user authentication information.FIG. 4A shows an example of records 400 that may be stored in customerdatabase 302. The mapping provided by customer database 302 may be usedin an embodiment to simplify the displayed names for a sender andrecipient of a message, as described below.

In an embodiment implemented as shown in FIG. 3, a user may postmessages to the electronic bulletin board by sending an instruction viaan email sent to a specified address. The email is processed byapplication server 300 which generates a message to send tocommunications center 100. The email may be sent from any email-enableddevice, including, for example, interactive pager 304, wirelesstelephone 306, wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) 308, handheldcomputer 310, computer 312, internet appliance 314, and the like.Moreover, as shown in FIG. 3, the devices may transmit the email messagevia any standard data path to which the devices are adapted. Forexample, devices 304–310 may be adapted to transmit email via wirelessvoice/data network 316. Network 316 may include one or more wirelessapplication protocol (WAP) gateways and one or more web gateway systems.Similarly, devices 310–314 may transmit email via switch 318 andinternet service provider (ISP) 320. Switch 318 may be a central office(CO) switch such as those used in the public switched telephone network,or may be a softswitch used in data networks and voice-over-IP systems.ISP 320 provides connectivity to internet 322.

Application server 300 may, for example, send the message to clientgateway 108 via secure intranet 326, firewall 324, ISP 320 and internet322 as shown in FIG. 3. It would be apparent to one of ordinary skill inthe art that other means of sending the message to gateway 108 may alsobe used. Although FIG. 3 shows only one ISP and one wireless networkproviding internet connectivity to each device, there may be multipleISPs and multiple wireless network service providers as would beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. Similarly, there may bemultiple switches serving each of devices 310–314 or a single switch maybe used as shown in FIG. 3.

Remote Writing (Posting) of Items to Bulletin Board

As noted above, a remote user may post an item (i.e., a message) to thebulletin board system by sending an email message to an address that isrouted to application server 300. Upon receipt of the email message,application server 300 may consult customer database 302 to determinewhether or not the sender of the email is an authorized user of theelectronic bulletin board. Such an authentication step is an optionalprocedure and may be carried out in a variety of ways. For example,customer database 302 may comprise a list of authorized sender emailaddresses from which it accepts bulletin board messages. Alternatively,customer database 302 may include a username and password that must beincluded in the email message.

In this embodiment, the sender's email message may include an addresseesuch as, for example, “TO: Billy@joneshome.com” and a sender's addresssuch as, for example, “FROM: Jane@Janeswork.com.” Application server 300looks up the addressee's domain name in column 402 in of table 400 incustomer database 302 to determine the destination address, that is, anaddress associated with client gateway 108 at the user's home (orworkplace). As shown in FIG. 4A, the destination address (column 404)may be expressed as any network address, such as for example, an IPaddress or a domain name, among others. Application server 300 may checkto see whether or not the sender is authorized to post messages to anelectronic bulletin board associated with this destination address. Asdescribed above, this step (if implemented) may involve a lookup of thesender's email address (column 406) or may involve verification of ausername (column 408) and password (column 410). Alternatively, in someembodiments, open access may be allowed (i.e., application serveraccepts all messages received and processes them for posting to theelectronic bulletin board).

Application server 300 may format the message for delivery to clientgateway 108 and display on communications center 100. In an embodimentof the present invention, customer database 302 also includes a mappingof email sending and receiving addresses to provide a more personalizedmessaging system. For example, customer database 302 may include a tablesuch as table 450 shown in FIG. 4B. In this example, a message receivedfrom “Jane@Janeswork.com” is formatted for posting on the electronicbulletin board according to the recipient's address. That is, if Jane issending a message intended for one of her children (Billy or Jane)application server 300 formats the message to identify the sender as“Mom” and the recipient by his or her first name as shown in rows 452and 454. However, when a message from “Jane@Janeswork.com” to“Steve@joneshome.com” is received, application server 300 formats themessage to be posted to include a sender name “Jane” and a recipientname “Steve” as shown in row 456. Similarly, a message from Jane to“all@joneshome.com” is routed to “Steve & Kids” from “Mom” as shown inrow 458.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a user may post amessage to the bulletin board system by connecting to application server300. The connection process may be completed using any suitable networkprotocol, including, for example, HTTP, Telnet, and the like. Again,there may be an authentication process for verifying the user's rightsto access the bulletin board system. Such authentication process mayinclude, for example, checking a list of authorized network addressesthat may connect to the server, username and password control, and thelike. In this embodiment, the user may be provided a menu of options toselect, for example, the sender and receiver names to use for a postedmessage.

Remote Reading of Bulletin Board Items

Remote retrieval or reading of content on an electronic bulletin boardaccording to an embodiment of the present invention may be accomplishedin substantially the same manner as described above. That is, forexample, a user may send an email message to application server 300requesting a download of messages from the bulletin board. In oneembodiment, the user may be provided the option of only downloadingthose items that have not been marked read by the user. In anotherembodiment, the user may request a subset of messages, for example, onlymessages addressed to the user. In still other embodiments, the user maybe able to select messages from a particular user, messages according totheir posting time, or other criteria for identifying messages to bedownloaded.

In an embodiment of the present invention, application server 300maintains a copy of messages sent to client gateway 108. In thisembodiment, download requests may be processed at application server 300without a need to contact client gateway 108. In other embodiments,application server 300 does not maintain copies of messages posted tothe bulletin board. In this embodiment, when a download request isreceived, application server sends a retrieval command to client gateway108. Client gateway 108 responds to the command and sends requestedcontent either to application server 300 for further processing ordirectly to the requestor's email address.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a user may read messagesor request downloads of messages by logging onto application server 300using any suitable network protocol as described above. In thisembodiment, application server 300 may include, for example, a webserver configured to display the bulletin board content via a webbrowser application. As described above, the user may request allmessages, or may select a subset of messages for retrieval.

In an embodiment, application server 300 may check the user's permissionto access the bulletin board, as described above. That is, applicationserver 300 may request the user to provide a username and password, ormay check the requestor's email or IP address to determine whether ornot the request should be honored.

Other Remote Manipulation of Bulletin Board Items

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user may performother remote manipulation operations on posted bulletin board items. Forexample, a user may request removal of an item from a bulletin board. Inother embodiments, a user may remotely edit a particular message. Otherremote manipulation operations that may be provided in one or moreembodiments of the present invention include marking a message as read,replying to a message, changing a position of a posting on the bulletinboard, copying a message, mailing a message to another email address,and the like.

In some embodiments, customer database 302 may include access levels fordetermining which users may perform these or other manipulationoperations on one or more messages on the bulletin board. As with otherembodiments described herein, the user may be requested to provide userauthentication information or application server 300 may use othersuitable authentication methods. Furthermore, in some embodiments, theuser posting a message on the bulletin board may determine which otherusers may manipulate the message. For example, a user may “lock” amessage to prevent others from deleting it.

Other Alternative Embodiments

In an embodiment of the present invention, special messages may besupported. For example, a special message such as grocery list 208 shownin FIG. 2 may be remotely manipulated. As used herein, grocery list 208is a “special message” because it need not include an author (i.e.,sender) name and need not include an addressee. A user may updategrocery list 208 in generally the same manner as described above, exceptthat the user may address the email to, for example,“grocery@joneshome.com.” Application server 300 may format the contentsof the email to display a message as shown in FIG. 2. Note, that becausea grocery list requires no “reply”, the menu of options associated withsuch a message may be customized as shown in the FIG. 2 to eliminatethis option. Alternatively, the system may include a “reply” option inthe menu.

The foregoing disclosure of the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention has been presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed. Many variations andmodifications of the embodiments described herein will be apparent toone of ordinary skill in the art in light of the above disclosure. Thescope of the invention is to be defined only by the claims appendedhereto, and by their equivalents.

Further, in describing representative embodiments of the presentinvention, the specification may have presented the method and/orprocess of the present invention as a particular sequence of steps.However, to the extent that the method or process does not rely on theparticular order of steps set forth herein, the method or process shouldnot be limited to the particular sequence of steps described. As one ofordinary skill in the art would appreciate, other sequences of steps maybe possible. Therefore, the particular order of the steps set forth inthe specification should not be construed as limitations on the claims.In addition, the claims directed to the method and/or process of thepresent invention should not be limited to the performance of theirsteps in the order written, and one skilled in the art can readilyappreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within thespirit and scope of the present invention.

1. An electronic bulletin board display system comprising: anapplication server configured to update a bulletin board displaygraphical user interface of a client computer that includes messages todifferent recipients by receiving and processing remote messagemanipulation instructions from one or more remote users, saidinstructions comprising a sender e-mail address, a recipient e-mailaddress pointing to the applications server, and a content for eachmessage to be generated; wherein said application server looks up therecipient e-mail address of each message in a customer database to finda bulletin board address of a client gateway associated with therecipient e-mail address where the client computer providing thebulletin board display graphical user interface resides behind theclient gateway, and wherein said application server updates the bulletinboard display graphical user interface of the client computer bygenerating messages based on the remote message manipulationinstructions and sending the messages to the client gateway incommunication with said communications center such that the clientcomputer automatically and concurrently displays the content of aplurality of the generated messages in the bulletin board displaygraphical user interface.
 2. The electronic bulletin board displaysystem of claim 1, wherein the instruction further comprises a retrievalcommand and wherein, in response to the instruction, the applicationserver instructs the communications center to send a copy of any datadisplayed thereon to the sender address.
 3. The electronic bulletinboard display system of claim 1, wherein the instruction furthercomprises a retrieval command and wherein, in response to theinstruction, the application server instructs the communications centerto send a subset of any data displayed thereon to the sender address. 4.The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1, wherein theapplication server is further configured to store a copy of datadisplayed on the communications center.
 5. The electronic bulletin boarddisplay system of claim 4, wherein the instruction further comprises aretrieval command and wherein, in response to the instruction, theapplication server sends the copy of data to the sender address.
 6. Theelectronic bulletin board display system of claim 4, wherein theinstruction further comprises a retrieval command and wherein, inresponse to the instruction, the application server sends a subset ofthe copy of data to the sender address.
 7. The electronic bulletin boarddisplay system of claim 1, wherein the content of the instructionincludes an audio clip.
 8. The electronic bulletin board display systemof claim 1, wherein the content of the instruction includes a videoclip.
 9. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1,wherein the content of the instruction includes an audio clip and avideo clip.
 10. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1,wherein bulletin board display on the communications center includesaudio clips.
 11. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim1, wherein bulletin board display on the communications center includesvideo clips.
 12. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim1, wherein bulletin board display on the communications center includesaudio clips and video clips.
 13. A method of providing remote access toa shared always-on bulletin board system, said method comprising:creating a customer database in communication with an application serveron the application server side of a customer gateway containing at leastan e-mail address of a recipient and a bulletin board address of thesame recipient; receiving a remote message manipulation instruction bythe application server from a remote user, said instruction comprising asender address, the recipient e-mail address and a content; looking upthe recipient e-mail address in the customer database; mapping therecipient's e-mail address to the recipient's bulletin board address;pushing automatically the remote message manipulation instruction to thecustomer's gateway based on the recipient's bulletin board address;causing the shared always-on bulletin board system to display a messageheader and content according to the sender address, the recipientaddress and the content by sending an instruction to the customer'sgateway in communication with said bulletin board system, and whereinthe bulletin board system concurrently displays additional messageheaders and contents including messages to different recipients.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the remote manipulation instruction furthercomprises a retrieval command.
 15. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising instructing the communications center to send data to thesender address.